Western League Baseball (3/8 - Texas Comets)

[~Bear]

This is great so far. Love the storytelling, and the designs are great. I love what you did for both the Blues and Bison so far, no complaints. Looking forward to the next 6!

 

Couple questions. First, how in-depth does the history go? If it's not an issue, I'd love to see a list of champions, if you have one provided. Second, you stated that teams have changed frequently. Will we see defunct teams, or perhaps throwback alternates to these teams?

[Roadrunner8ball]

 

They say everything is bigger in Texas, for example, food, land, and finally, Western League championships. The Texas Comets proudly have hoisted 13 Quinn-Kurtis Trophies since they joined the league as a founding member in 1951. They come into this year as the defending champions, having taken down Provo in last years final 4-3. Before we get to that though, let’s just say that it wasn't always this great in Texas. 

 

The Comets formed in 1941 in a town just to the northeast of where they currently reside in Houston as the College Station Texans. They started in the Rocky Mountain League where they were the farthest lying eastern team in the league. The expansion team took the place of the Tulsa Indians when Tulsa’s owner was arrested in a embezzlement case and lost all finances for the team due to fines. College Station started with the expectation that they were going to be bad and they certainly lived up to it. They were so bad for the next 5 years that attendance dropped from 8,000 a game to a mere 900. Their records over those first years were 14-132, 32-124, 23-133, 55-101, and 54-102. They made slight improvements but never finished less than 34 games behind the first place team. No one in College Station was going to see them and the product on the field was woeful. The team filed for bankruptcy right before the 1950 season.

 

In 1950 a man by the name of Lyndon Kurtis, who was then the president of the RML, bought the team and took them down the road to Houston where he had a grand plan to turn the team into a contender and help kickstart the Western League. He had great ambition as he brought the team into the Western League in 1951 as one of the 4 original members of the league because in his words “I know I can make this team good. Just you wait.”

 

With College Station behind them, the new name the Houston Cowboys, and with 85% of their roster new players, it was almost like a brand new franchise had emerged. The one problem was that they still couldn't get over .500. It took until 1961 for the team to get to 85 wins and they did with an 85-85 record, the highest win total they would achieve for the next decade. Kurtis held onto the team for some reason or another. Fans were interested in the team, but they didn’t have a steady flow of wins to keep their interest much past June. 

 

That all changed when in 1968, 2 men who ran a synthetic grass company from Houston, John Desmond and Rhett Williams, bought the team for a mere $90,000 (around half a million today). The space race had just ended and the two renamed the team the Texas Comets to hop onto the moon craze that was sweeping the country and moved the team into the brand new and other worldly Texas Ballpark. The field was the first outdoor stadium in the country to feature the brand new type of turf that later become popular in cookie cutter stadiums in the 1970s. The men built a brand new field for the Comets that was complete with turf, cutouts for the bases, and a model rocket in the lawn beyond the center field wall. 

 

In 1971 they had a breakthrough with the coming of a 19 year old catcher named Kyle Park. Park was bought by Texas from the Oklahoma Diablos for just $900 in early July when the team was 35-50. Kyle Park then went on a tear and the whole team rallied around him. He finished August with a .343 average with 34 homers and 67 RBI in only 65 games. The team turned it around and finished only 5 games out of second come the end of the year. Park became one of the greatest players ever to play in the Western League and leads the Comets all-time in homers, RBI, runs, and extra base hits. They went on to later win their first championship in 1974. They then won 2 more in the 70s, 2 in the 80s, 5 in the 90s, and then 3 since the year 2000 with the latest coming last year.

 

The team this year is led by their core of Joey Westing at first, Tim Bertling on the mound as their top starter, and Willem Castillo manning 2nd. All three were in the MVP talk last season as they led Texas to the title while sporting a 108-62 record. They won game 7 in the most dramatic of ways with a walkoff homerun from Joey Westing in the bottom of the 13th to win 5-4 over Provo and claim the title. 

 

Texas’ set is my favorite of this whole series so far, including the ones I haven’t released yet. They sport the red, white, and blue colors that are seen on the Texas flag. The primary features the state of Texas with the script “Comets” underlined by a flying baseball. The Texas outline has in it a Texas flag. That script is featured on the home jersey with a blue cap that includes a red brim and the alternate T logo on the outline of Texas. All 3 jerseys feature a stripe of both red and blue on the home and away while the alternate has them as white and red, as well as those same stripes on  the pants. The socks also feature the stripes with the flying baseball being shown on the stripes (I wanted them to be outside the box and beautiful all at the same time). The alternate hat is similar to the primary cap but features a red base instead of a blue. 

 

NRG Ballpark is a quirky ballpark that has very little foul territory down the lines, akin to Dell Diamond in Round Rock. The outfield wall juts in and out and makes the bounces tricky for opposing outfielders. Opened in 2010 it houses 41,500 fans and with their recent success, is filled on most nights.

[Roadrunner8ball]

On 6/1/2017 at 3:35 PM, ~Bear said:

This is great so far. Love the storytelling, and the designs are great. I love what you did for both the Blues and Bison so far, no complaints. Looking forward to the next 6!

 

Couple questions. First, how in-depth does the history go? If it's not an issue, I'd love to see a list of champions, if you have one provided. Second, you stated that teams have changed frequently. Will we see defunct teams, or perhaps throwback alternates to these teams?

The history only goes as in-depth as I go for each team so I don't have a list of champions. The most you'll get to see of that is what I put in for each team in their history. Many teams have a throwback but they are only worn for a game or two each year for certain events i.e. old timers day. For both of your ideas though I might go back after the project, try a throwback or two to the earlier parts of the team's history, and maybe a graphic of champions for the past few years but I will be putting out some 4th of July unis next month!

 

Also here are the updated standings for today (June 2, 2017). Texas and KC continue to battle for 1st place as the are stilled tied with a gap now opening up between them and the rest of the league.

 

[JMtexan09]

On 6/2/2017 at 5:45 PM, Roadrunner8ball said:

 

They say everything is bigger in Texas, for example, food, land, and finally, Western League championships. The Texas Comets proudly have hoisted 13 Quinn-Kurtis Trophies since they joined the league as a founding member in 1951. They come into this year as the defending champions, having taken down Provo in last years final 4-3. Before we get to that though, let’s just say that it wasn't always this great in Texas. 

 

The Comets formed in 1941 in a town just to the northeast of where they currently reside in Houston as the College Station Texans. They started in the Rocky Mountain League where they were the farthest lying eastern team in the league. The expansion team took the place of the Tulsa Indians when Tulsa’s owner was arrested in a embezzlement case and lost all finances for the team due to fines. College Station started with the expectation that they were going to be bad and they certainly lived up to it. They were so bad for the next 5 years that attendance dropped from 8,000 a game to a mere 900. Their records over those first years were 14-132, 32-124, 23-133, 55-101, and 54-102. They made slight improvements but never finished less than 34 games behind the first place team. No one in College Station was going to see them and the product on the field was woeful. The team filed for bankruptcy right before the 1950 season.

 

In 1950 a man by the name of Lyndon Kurtis, who was then the president of the RML, bought the team and took them down the road to Houston where he had a grand plan to turn the team into a contender and help kickstart the Western League. He had great ambition as he brought the team into the Western League in 1951 as one of the 4 original members of the league because in his words “I know I can make this team good. Just you wait.”

 

With College Station behind them, the new name the Houston Cowboys, and with 85% of their roster new players, it was almost like a brand new franchise had emerged. The one problem was that they still couldn't get over .500. It took until 1961 for the team to get to 85 wins and they did with an 85-85 record, the highest win total they would achieve for the next decade. Kurtis held onto the team for some reason or another. Fans were interested in the team, but they didn’t have a steady flow of wins to keep their interest much past June. 

 

That all changed when in 1968, 2 men who ran a synthetic grass company from Houston, John Desmond and Rhett Williams, bought the team for a mere $90,000 (around half a million today). The space race had just ended and the two renamed the team the Texas Comets to hop onto the moon craze that was sweeping the country and moved the team into the brand new and other worldly Texas Ballpark. The field was the first outdoor stadium in the country to feature the brand new type of turf that later become popular in cookie cutter stadiums in the 1970s. The men built a brand new field for the Comets that was complete with turf, cutouts for the bases, and a model rocket in the lawn beyond the center field wall. 

 

In 1971 they had a breakthrough with the coming of a 19 year old catcher named Kyle Park. Park was bought by Texas from the Oklahoma Diablos for just $900 in early July when the team was 35-50. Kyle Park then went on a tear and the whole team rallied around him. He finished August with a .343 average with 34 homers and 67 RBI in only 65 games. The team turned it around and finished only 5 games out of second come the end of the year. Park became one of the greatest players ever to play in the Western League and leads the Comets all-time in homers, RBI, runs, and extra base hits. They went on to later win their first championship in 1974. They then won 2 more in the 70s, 2 in the 80s, 5 in the 90s, and then 3 since the year 2000 with the latest coming last year.

 

The team this year is led by their core of Joey Westing at first, Tim Bertling on the mound as their top starter, and Willem Castillo manning 2nd. All three were in the MVP talk last season as they led Texas to the title while sporting a 108-62 record. They won game 7 in the most dramatic of ways with a walkoff homerun from Joey Westing in the bottom of the 13th to win 5-4 over Provo and claim the title. 

 

Texas’ set is my favorite of this whole series so far, including the ones I haven’t released yet. They sport the red, white, and blue colors that are seen on the Texas flag. The primary features the state of Texas with the script “Comets” underlined by a flying baseball. The Texas outline has in it a Texas flag. That script is featured on the home jersey with a blue cap that includes a red brim and the alternate T logo on the outline of Texas. All 3 jerseys feature a stripe of both red and blue on the home and away while the alternate has them as white and red, as well as those same stripes on  the pants. The socks also feature the stripes with the flying baseball being shown on the stripes (I wanted them to be outside the box and beautiful all at the same time). The alternate hat is similar to the primary cap but features a red base instead of a blue. 

 

NRG Ballpark is a quirky ballpark that has very little foul territory down the lines, akin to Dell Diamond in Round Rock. The outfield wall juts in and out and makes the bounces tricky for opposing outfielders. Opened in 2010 it houses 41,500 fans and with their recent success, is filled on most nights.

 

Wow.... this really suits a Texas team..... i am loving the crazy pattern in the field too! It is close to Rangers team but still I love it

[Roadrunner8ball]

22 hours ago, JMtexan09 said:

 

Wow.... this really suits a Texas team..... i am loving the crazy pattern in the field too! It is close to Rangers team but still I love it

Thank you! I totally get what you're saying about it being close to the Rangers and its honestly super hard to create any team in Texas using Texas colors (I took them straight from the flag) without it looking too much like the Rangers. Plus their font in plain red and blue is way too gorgeous to not use for the set. 

[Roadrunner8ball]

Just a little update on this series, it's still very much alive (I have 7 of the 8 teams finished). It's just coming up with backstories for each team that is proving as a lengthy and long task that leads to writer's block pretty often. I'm very much excited to show you guys the rest of the teams just in the future the stories might not be as long and more focused on the designs. Another quick thing, If I made an Out of The Park template/save for the league, would you guys be interested, and/or want to use it? Let me know. Thanks!

[Klew721]

On 6/26/2017 at 11:52 AM, Roadrunner8ball said:

Just a little update on this series, it's still very much alive (I have 7 of the 8 teams finished). It's just coming up with backstories for each team that is proving as a lengthy and long task that leads to writer's block pretty often. I'm very much excited to show you guys the rest of the teams just in the future the stories might not be as long and more focused on the designs. Another quick thing, If I made an Out of The Park template/save for the league, would you guys be interested, and/or want to use it? Let me know. Thanks!

 

Yes, I would love to use this in OOTP. Great logos and uniforms so far.

[ncs53]

Excited for the other 5 teams

[omnivore]

Would totally be up for a OOTP version, even if just unis/caps/logo.

[DJSpeedy]

• Any updates on this?